To follow-up on a previous post …
The inspiration for this was a habanero honey, from Pure All Natural Honey, which is available locally at the Davis Farmers’ Market. Here’s a little info about them: (see http://www.theaggie.org/2012/05/02/farmers-market-vendor-of-the-week-pure-all-natural-honey/).
The scallops were pretty simple to make. We had bought some beautiful, fresh scallops at Nugget Market in Davis. I lightly rinsed them with a little cold water, gently patted them dry with paper towels, then placed the scallops in a large zipper bag. I whisked together some extra virgin olive oil, habenero honey, and lime juice. Just do this to taste – you want a nice, delicate balance of hot and sweet. Really fresh scallops have a lovely, delicate flavor and texture, so you don’t want to overpower them with too much. Set these in the refrigerator while you prepare the rest of the meal. You don’t want to marinate these for long – maybe an hour or so.
While the scallops are marinating, slice and salt the eggplant, then lay out on paper towels. This extracts some water from the eggplant, and if there is some bitterness from seeds, this can help to draw the bitterness out. Lay some paper towels on top of the salted eggplant. If you’re using Asian eggplant, you don’t need to peel them, but for some of the larger Italian eggplant, you may want to peel them.
Light and preheat the grill. Start on the bread and salad.
Got a stale baguette? Grill it!
For the grilled bread, day old bread works best. Simply slice it (3/8 to 1/2-inch thick), brush it with a good quality extra virgin olive oil, and sprinkle with a little coarse salt. Lightly grill the bread and set aside. Assemble your salad – make it as simple or as elaborate as you want.
Basic Green Salad - heirloom greens, tomatoes, avocado, fresh basil, homemade croutons, drizzled with extra virgin olive oil and coarse sea salt and freshly ground pepper.
Rinse the excess salt from the eggplant and blot dry with towels. Brush lightly with extra virgin olive oil, skewer, and grill over medium-low heat. Cook until they are nicely colored and softened, but not overdone.
Skewer the scallops and grill over medium-low heat. You want to get good coloring on the surface and to cook them through, but be cautious because they go from not yet to overdone in a moment. You can see in the picture below that one scallop did get a little dark on the outside, but it was perfect inside. When you’re using a honey-based marinade, it’s especially important to watch for charring.
I usually start out with the grill on high, but when I began to cook, I turned it down to low. I openly admit that I am not an expert griller, but I’ve had pretty good success doing it this way.
Both the eggplant and scallops came out perfect tonight. That was especially important because I was cooking for a fellow foodie, who might even be more of a foodie than I am.
Grilled Asian Eggplant
Grilled Honey, Habanero, & Lime Scallops
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